Month: October 2017

Important self-taught inventors who did not complete elementary school

In the left photo is Thomas Edison, whose formal education ended after 3 months, discouraged by his teacher who said he was not very smart. In the right photo is Pay Bok Sing, an innovative seafood farmer who has a fourth-grade education. Edison is most famous for his invention of the incandescent light bulb, the mainstay of lighting for over a century. He also invented the phonograph and made the very first movies.

Pay Bok Sing, like Edison is self-educated. His schooling ended in 4th grade. With the help of his own curiosity and YouTube, he taught himself how to create ocean water for inland seafood farming and feed for his fish crop. His inventions may become the foundation of sustainable, local based farming, providing secure food in the communities where we live.

Teaching ourselves we can all become inventors

In the US, public education often succeeds in creating endless crops of students who think they hate learning, demotivated by teachers who limit their intellectual exploration rather than encourage creative thought. But were students to partake of the enormous potential provided by free online learning through YouTube and other web channels, they could explore their own abilities, and be inventors and thought leaders. In fact, farming in our own homes and back yards can provide all of us with inexpensive laboratories for learning about food science–a science that can help feed people in times of climate uncertainty and economic instability.

There’s no need to take expensive courses. Just follow some basic instruction from YouTube and learn how to raise fish in your basement and tomatoes and lettuce in your own kitchen. The more you learn, the more you’ll be able to discover for yourself. Each and every one of us can be an inventor!

Conquer Legacy Criminals and Win Big!

As I was engaging in one of my favorite hobbies this morning – virtual house hunting – I came across a real gem: For only $39,000, a house listed in Berlin NY with 1.5 baths, ¼ acre, in excellent condition on a scenic lot. The last purchasers paid $100,000 in 2007. It even has a barn with a hayloft and 2 car garage. So pretty. So why the low price?

Looking at the map, I could see that Albany, NY, Bennington, VT and Pittsfield, MA were within 40 miles of the property. I also could see that the town of Berlin was accessible only by secondary roads and was clearly cut off from eastern travel by mountains. Ok, so lots of nice country places are isolated. Perhaps there was a flood? Outstanding Berlin, New York blogger Elaine Supkis, described how in 2011 floods completely cut the small town off from the rest of the world, with photographs of washed out roads. The only way out was on horse or by foot.

Herkimer, New York, unlike Berlin, is fortunate to be located on I-90, a principal US highway, reliable almost every day of the year. For those of us who love nature and the convenience of being within walking distance of amenities like health care, supermarkets, retail stores, pharmacies and government services, Utica’s Amtrak station and regional bus service, Herkimer is a superb location. Of course, the minus of Herkimer is its entrenched criminal element, which has diminished of late but remains emboldened by decades of malgovernance. Herkimer’s criminals are a shrinking minority, doomed by the dynamics of climate change migration and ongoing major law enforcement operations. If we all stand against them, Herkimer can again be a law abiding, safe and prosperous place. Pioneers fought for their homes and communities. They won. So will we. Conquer legacy criminals and win big!

We had a fresh Herkimer drive-by gas attack today (10.11.17), at 1452; possibly eviction related. The sheer irrationality of it is mind boggling. The attack was announced within our hearing then immediately launched before our cameras.

Around 1400, we opened our front bedroom window. In the past, this has sparked poison gas attacks and recently death threats from the Herkimer Handmaiden. But, it’s been a few weeks since the death threats and the last drive-by poison gas attack. (Probably means people were arrested.)

Two women nearby were talking about an eviction which took place today here on Pleasant Avenue. (We saw it. The Herkimer County Sheriff was involved.) The two complained that the eviction was unfair, that someone who owned a house shouldn’t be able to “just kick someone out.” (It’s New York, not Florida. There’s a multi-step eviction process.) The two obviously cared deeply about the person or persons evicted–possibly it was they.

We then heard only one side of the conversation. It ended with one woman warning the other, “You do that, you’re going to get your ass kicked.” (There’s been a major crackdown on poison gas attacks recently. The charge is probably not “spraying” but malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit murder.)

A few moments later, at 1452, came the drive by gas attack. We know exactly when it occurred as the toxic gas came through our open window. It had the usual symptoms of a pyrethrin pesticide. Surveillance cam footage shows only one likely candidate vehicle, a small black SUV. It met all the criteria: window down, slow, stopping and leaving with a screech of tires. (Mea culpa: Camera times need coordinating. System time confirms 1452.)

The front of our driveway’s the primary launch point for poison gas. Perching there signals an attack. The hand foggers used have a range of at least 30 feet. The poison mist launched from there will poison our driveway, our front porch, our garden, our pets and us. It then spreads to affect our neighbors, but sociopaths don’t care about others–they’re sociopaths.

It seems that Herkimer’s criminals believe us responsible for the transitions occurring in Herkimer. Real estate sales are up, rents have skyrocketed. Certainly we’ve served as a catalyst with our in-your-face activist blog. But migration northward is the real reason, as people increasingly move to climate change safety zones, spurred by firestorms in the West and mega hurricanes in the South.

We’ve given Herkimer a very visible social media presence: No one who moves here and has done their homework has cause to say they didn’t know that Herkimer’s a frontier town. (13,000 + views of our Herkimer YouTube crime videos to date.)

There now seems a belated effort to keep the village’s more volatile personalities out of range of our cameras. Well, yeah, but there are a lot of them.

As for this attack and our attacker her friend’s probably right: she’s going get her ass kicked.

An early alert was provided by our cat Marley who was sitting on top of the kitchen table. He does not enjoy VOCing and proceeded to yowl in alarm and vomit in illness as the poison penetrated his body.

Featured prominently were the following:

female lookout at well lit 333 Pleasant Ave

red vehicle parked in front of 331

small black sedan with male occupant in Harriet Tangora’s driveway at unoccupied 328 Pleasant Ave (previously seen at 331 Pleasant Ave on 9/17 when female expressed a desire to kill me for listening to her conversation. Herkimer Police responded).

In a fit of ire, I rushed outside with my flashlight angrily pointed on the ruffians perpetrating this crime for the umpteenth time. This seemed to be effective as they fled the scene. (BTW it’s now over 6 hours later and Marley is again vomiting).